O’Brien radio group asks for public subsidy

Gaffney called on Denis Naughten to abolish a levy paid by stations to the Broadcasting Authority of IrelandGRAHAM HUGHES/ PHOTOCALL IRELAND

The chairwoman of Communicorp Group has warned Denis Naughten, the communications minister, that “it is possible in the foreseeable future there will be no Irish-owned media outlets apart from RTE”.

In a letter written on June 1 and released under freedom of information legislation, Lucy Gaffney urged Naughten to divert €25m of the licence fee from RTE to the independent sector each year: “This should be made available irrespective of any uplift in licence fee monies collected.”

Gaffney also called on Naughten to abolish a levy paid by stations to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), and to relax guidelines on speech content on music stations, restrictions on advertising time, and requirements to play Irish music. She further proposed that a percentage of funding available…